Couple take the plunge with lido wedding snaps

THEY say getting married can be about holding hands and bravely taking a leap – and bride Maxine Edwards and her new husband Clifford Harris took such advice literally last week.

Maxine, a lifeguard and recreation assistant, met her husband Clifford Harris while working at HMP Pentonville in Caledonian Road – and marked the occasion of their wedding by taking to the waters at the Parliament Hill Fields Lido in full wedding regalia.

The moment was captured on film as a present from lido swimmer and professional photographer Ruth Corney with colleagues Mark Bloom and Pete Prince, who said she’d set up the pictures to mark the happy occasion.

The couple, who live in King’s Cross, met 12 months ago while Maxine was working as an escort officer at the prison and Clifford, a building plant delivery driver, had a drop-off there.

She said: “As well as working at the lido, I work at Pentonville. A contractor had to get on site so I went down to the gates to escort them in and there was Clifford.

“It should have taken us about 15 minutes to do the delivery but instead it was more like 45, as we started chatting away.

“We eventually asked each other if we were married and both said no – so we swapped numbers.”

The romance blossomed and when they decided to tie the knot, Ruth made the offer to do the photoshoot.

Maxine said: “I have known Ruth for about 13 years – since I first started working at the lido – and she said ‘I want to give you a really special wedding present – why don’t I take some pictures?’ It was the best present ever.”

The couple leapt in from one of the lifeguards’ viewing points to cheers from other swimmers and then spent around 45 minutes splashing about in their finery.

Mr Harris added: “It was one of the hottest days of the year and surprisingly easy to swim in our clothes.”

Ms Corney said she was only too happy to help the lifeguard celebrate her nuptials. She said: “Maxine is one of the loveliest staff at the lido and when she said she was getting married, I thought it be great to ask wedding photographer Pete Prince to help me take some underwater shots. She was a perfect lido bride, as she’s a confident swimming teacher – and she persuaded Clifford to take part as well as bridesmaid Emma and page boy George.”

Now the pair are heading to Barbados for two weeks to enjoy their honeymoon – and have, of course, packed swimsuits, flippers and snorkels.